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by Sonita Lontoh

Her name is Jessica. She is my emerging leader (mentee) from Lebanon. “Emerging Leader?” “From Lebanon?” Yes, Jessica is part of 41 emerging women leaders that had been chosen out of an applicant pool of more than 550 worldwide to participate in the 2012 TechWomen program.

TechWomen is an international mentoring program launched by US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and was inspired by President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo that called for mutual respect and greater collaboration between the United States and the world. The program brings emerging women leaders in technology from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to the United States, where they are paired with technology women in Silicon Valley to work and learn together. The program pairs Secretary Clinton’s vision of “smart power” diplomacy and “21st Century Statecraft” to empower the next-generation of women by providing access and opportunity to pursue careers in technology, a field that is still primarily dominated by men.

Jessica is an energy engineer working with the UN’s and Lebanese Energy Ministry’s initiatives for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Her passion is poverty eradication and ensuring people in remote areas of the world have access to clean energy. This aligns perfectly with my passion in leveraging technology innovation to transform the way we generate, manage and consume energy. Although women are still underrepresented in many technology leadership positions around the world (even here in Silicon Valley), I have long believed that women have the potential to thrive in the green technology sector because it serves a higher purpose of creating a more sustainable environment for the next generation and beyond. Some studies found that women are more likely to stay in a technology career where they are allowed to affect a human issue.

Even before Jessica arrived in San Francisco, we already communicated via emails. I asked her what she expected to learn and she told me that in addition to learning more about the United States’ business environment and policy in green technology, she wanted to broaden her leadership and communication skills. Jessica realized that to be an effective leader, she needed to develop her “soft” skills in addition to her technical skills.

I was so excited to finally meet Jessica and the other emerging leaders and mentors as we embarked on our journey in early Fall. We worked together on a project about a city that implemented a smart energy program to improve energy efficiency, deliver benefits to its citizens and contribute positively to the environment. Given that Jessica’s time in the US is relatively short, we had to balance between a project that could be concluded within the tight timeframe, but also continue to be beneficial to her knowledge and skill development after she goes back to her country.

The mentoring program focused not only on professional work, but also on cultural enrichment. In addition to working on professional projects at Silicon Valley tech companies, they complement the experience with cultural activities that enrich their understanding of American life. We attended workshops, went to baseball games and explored neighborhood communities to help explain American culture through experiential learning that deepens mutual understanding.

I had always believed that people should not only have mentors (and sponsors) in their lives, but should also be a mentor and sponsor to others. The leadership, personal and professional growth one gains by being a mentor is priceless. Mentoring is not a one-way street, but a two-way relationship where both mentors and mentees learn from and enrich each other’s lives. Mentoring someone from another country adds a unique perspective that helps develop our cultural sensitivities, which serves us well in our globalized world.

There are the little interactions that remind all of us of the different interpretations of otherwise mundane activities we do on a daily basis. One mentee commented that her mentor is always in meetings -- even when she’s driving, she’ll be in a conference call talking about work. Some may interpret this as the positive impact technology enables -- multitasking and being productive at all times. Others may interpret this as example of how American workers are always advancing their work, 24/7. Still others may interpret this as evidence that American workers are too hyper-connected – on all the time, with no time for quiet relaxation and self-reflection. Whatever interpretation one may have is filtered through the culture one is brought up with and it is important to understand others’ perspectives.

The most rewarding experience for me is how I learn and grow from my interactions with Jessica, the other emerging women leaders, and the other mentors in the program. I learned that these emerging leaders are tough, very tough. Although they grew up and live in a region where women may not be as free as those in the US, they fought hard to earn their advanced degrees and established successful careers in technology. They have dreams to start technology businesses and education centers to help their societies and women to advance. Despite our diverse backgrounds and experiences, we all shared the same collective dreams and aspirations. The borders in our global village are disappearing and in this interconnected world, it is of utmost importance that the world’s citizens have a truly global perspective, embrace our differences and celebrate our similarities.

Although the formal mentoring program has concluded, the journey is just beginning. As the emerging leaders go back to their countries, they will continue to draw from the network, experience and life-long friendships they forge during their experience here in the US.

Putting technology to work, Jessica and I stay in touch via email, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. As I see her “Good Morning Beirut, Good Night San Francisco” tweet, I cannot help but thank her and the other women for the experience. We all should aspire to be a catalyst in fostering a more complete understanding of diverse peoples and a more genuine embrace of our differences, and thus helping to create a better world.

Sonita Lontoh is an award-winning executive focusing on green technology. She is an expert recognized on Wikipedia and is a frequent speaker/contributor on energy, green tech, and women leadership topics. She is passionate about leveraging innovation to transform the way we generate and use energy and to encourage more women in technology leadership positions. Sonita earned her Master of Engineering degree from MIT, where she was also cross-registered at the Harvard Business School. She holds an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from UC Berkeley. Follow Sonita on Twitter @slontoh.